Alcohol control – 59, the new Labour Code – 41. This is the result of the percentage coverage of these two topics in the Lithuanian media over the past twelve months. After the relevant laws came into force and the public debate on these long-dominant issues in Lithuania quieted somewhat, the media monitoring and analysis company Mediaskopas summarized how these topics developed in the public sphere.
The company’s study shows how media attention to these topics was distributed over the 12 months from June 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017, further dividing this period into two separate six-month intervals: from June 1, 2016 to December 2016, and from December 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017.
“We chose this time span deliberately. We wanted to compare how much these issues were reflected in the media during the last half-year of the previous government led by Algirdas Butkevičius and the first half-year of the government led by Saulius Skvernelis, which began work in December last year,” says Jūratė Stankuvienė, director of Mediaskopas.
In total, during the period from June 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017, there were 9,395 mentions related to alcohol control recorded in the country’s media, while the new Labour Code was mentioned 6,436 times (in percentage terms, 59 and 41). Meanwhile, during the last six months of the 16th Government’s term, the new Labour Code was mentioned more often (4,359; 55%) than alcohol control (3,539; 45%), although the difference is not very pronounced. The numbers look completely different during the first half-year of the 17th Government: the Labour Code – 2,172 (27%), alcohol control – 5,895 (73%).
During his last half-year in office, A. Butkevičius was mentioned 436 times in the media in the context of the new Labour Code, and 19 times in the context of alcohol control. S. Skvernelis appears 319 times in the Labour Code topic during the first half-year of his government, and 264 times in the alcohol control topic.
In the alcohol restrictions topic during the same period, the most frequently mentioned person was the chairman of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, Ramūnas Karbauskis, with 477 mentions. Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga was also very active here, with 444 mentions, compared with the health ministers of the 16th Government, Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė (21), Juras Požela (11), and Juozas Olekas (0), who temporarily held the duties of the Ministry of Health head at the end of the term.
“R. Karbauskis was active in the new Labour Code topic as well (122 mentions during the period from December 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017), but the absolute leader over the entire analyzed 12-month period in this area is President Dalia Grybauskaitė (892). As we observe in the media of the recent period, both topics — the new Labour Code and alcohol restrictions — are not yet completely dead, and under the right circumstances they can flare up again with full force,” says J. Stankuvienė, head of Mediaskopas.
This media study was carried out by monitoring publications in national, regional, and district newspapers and magazines, as well as reports from internet portals and news agencies.
